Axle mounting



March 3, 1953 R. C. KEPNER AXLE MOUNTING Filed July 15, 1946 if 14H/2 hAT`TORNEY Patented Mar. 3, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AXLEMOUNTING Robert C. Kepner, Bloomsburg, Pa., assigner to American `Carand Foundry Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New JerseyApplication July 13, 1946, Serial No. 683,557

(Cl. 10S-364) 2 Claims. i 1

This invention relates to axle mountings in general and in particular toaxle mountings for mine or other industrial cars where clearances aresmall and shocks comparatively great.

In recent years asthe loads carried by mine and other industrial carsincreased it has been recognized that some type of springing or shockabsorbing medium is necessary to prevent destruction of the car body. Inthe majority of cases, however, it is impossible to use springs of thetype customarily used for large railway cars or highway vehicles.Particularly in mine car work tunnel clearances will prevent ordinarytypes of springingsince in order to obtain large capacity the car iioorsmust be lowered as low as possible to get necessary load carryingcapacity. It is an object, therefore, of the present invention toprovide an axle mounting which will eciently absorb shocks yet occupy anextremely small space above the car axle.

i A further object of the invention is the provision -of an axlemounting vmaterial interposed between the car body and the axle andcapable of permitting limited relative motion between the body and axlein all directions.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an axlemounting which may be readily applied to existing car structures.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description andaccompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken throughthe car adjacent a supporting axle;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 3 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 'l is a sectional View taken substantially on line 4-1 of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 1 but disclosing amodification and taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 6, and;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 6 6 of Fig. 5,and Fig. '7 is an enlarged sectional view of the central portion only ofFig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it will be seen that the floor2 of the mine car body is welded or otherwise attached to longitudinallyextending sill members 4 having cutouts 6 therein through which the axleA may extend. The sill elements 4 are connected together and braced inFigs. 1 to 4 inclusive by a T-shaped cross sill member 8 having the legvertically disposed and coped to permit a projection I8 to extendintothe` opening 6 formed in the side sills fl. The lower plate I6 islikewise coped to permit its ends to project .into the opening and alsoto permit attachment of thrust members 2u to the axle.

y These thrust members Z are spaced slightly from the carside sills andwill absorb the side thrusts of the car body and transmit them directlyto the axle and thence to the wheel W without any danger of jamming thebearings as would otherwise occur. From the preceding it will be seenthat the resilient unit comprising the upper andlower plates I2 and ISand resilient material I4 may be inserted through the openings in thesill and riveted or otherwise attached to the flanges Ill of the crosssill 3. It is then only necessary for the axle to be inserted throughthe openings and the thrust plates 2e riveted or otherwise secured tothe axle. Due to the coping of lower plate I6 and its engagement withthe thrust plates 29, shifting of the plate I5 relative to axle A isprevented. Accordingly, the resilient material I4 will act in shear tocushion slightly the side thrusts prior to engagement of the side sillswith the thrust plates 20. The resilient material I4 will also act inshear to control slightly the movements of the axle longitudinally ofthe body, with total movement restricted by the clearance between theaxle and sides of openings 6. Relative vertical motion between the carbody and axle will, of course, be absorbed by the resilient materialacting in compression and the shock forces will be evenly transmittedthrough the material and over substantially the entire length of theaxle: between the wheels.

In the form shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the car floor 30 is suitably attachedto side sill elements 32 of bulb angle form and the floor portions arejoined by an inverted U- structure 34 extending over and housing theaxle. In this instance the resilient unit formed of upper plate 3B,lower plate 38 and resilient material 40 is made in two parts for easeof assembly. The two parts, as

clearly shown in Fig. 5, are separated by a top i member 42 riveted orotherwise secured to the central portion of the axle housing. Plates 38as clearly shown are narrower than the space between the side walls ofhousing 34 and, accordingly, the resilient unit will act in shear toresist both transverse and longitudinal axle movements since the actionof the rubber-in-shear is of lower value than the friction between theaxle and plate. In .order to limit the side motion between the car bodyand axle and relieve the wheel bearings of improper impact, a sidethrust member 44 is riveted or bolted to the center part of the axle andextends downwardly between zstrap members 46 secured to the axle housingand joining the flanges thereof. Asclearly shown inFig. 5, there isclearance between-the thrustmember 44 and the strap members 46 whichClearance-is less than that between the side sillszandthe wheelbearings. Thus these strap members will not only reenforce the axlehousing adjacent-its center portion, but will also transmit side thruststo the U-shaped thrust member "44 attached to the axle as previouslydescribed.

It will be seen from thepreceding description that vthe vcar Abody isresiliently mounted on the axle for atleast slight movement in alldirections and `it will also -be seen 'that the resilient unit can bereadily applied to existing car structures without materially changingthe .clearances .between `-thecar floorand :the rail. it will alsozbeseen `by persons skilled .in the art rthat 'various modifications yandrearrangements of parts may lbe made without .departing from the scopevof the invention as definedby the appended claims.

\What is claimed is:

i1. In a mine .car :axle mounting the combina.- tion of a substantiallysquare axle, wheels supporting ,the ends of :the vaxle,an inverted Ushaped axle housing covering Athe entire central portion of the axle andsecured to and forming part of the car'fbody, a pair of cushioning unitspositioned in said axle housing .and each comprising an upper platesupporting the axle housing, a lower icV 4 plate supported on the axle,and resilient matefi rial bonded to said plates to form the unit andresiliently resist relative movement between the plates, tie meansjoining the central portions of said axle housing to resist spreadingthereof, andl U-shaped means secured to the central portion o said axlebetween the units and having the lower portion thereof engaging said.tiesmeans to prevent damaging axial strains vkfrom being transmitted tosaid resilient material and to prevent said body from contacting saidwheels.

2. .Ina mine car axle mounting the combination of an axle, wheelssupporting the ends of the axle, va pairorspaeedapart cushioning unitssupporting the mine car body upon the axle and comprising, a pair ofspaced apart lower plates supported .on ,the axle, a pair of spacedapart upper plates supporting the car body, resilient material securedto said plates to form the pair of spaced cushioning units, meanssecured to the body .and fengageable :with the .inner ends of fsaidupper yplates "to :hold fsaid .units in .spaced VAapart relationship,and means Isecured to said 'axle in the space vbetween .said units andengaging the car vbody to prevent .damaging axial strains ffrom being.transmitted ,to said `resilient material and to :prevent said .bodyfrom contacting :said wheels.

.ROBERT KEPNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are -of record in -the 'le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES Vvl?A'1`1-l1\',S

vSensenich June 23, 1.94.27

